Lovely laborous lasagna

Whenever you have a lot of people to feed and you feel like working 3-4 hours in the kitchen, then a rich lasagna is worth trying.

What you need

For the bolognese ("Bolo") sauce:

Aubergines (click the link to see health benefits)

Garlic

Parmesan cheese (black label parmigiano reggiano, aged 36 months)

Olive oil

Italian sausage (whatever that means to you ...I used “Citterio Milano”)

Onions

Brown sugar

Ground beef

Ground pork

Thyme

Garlic

Bay leaves

Carrots

Tomato sauce (Cirio Provista Sugo)

Red wine

Basil

Pecorino cheese (pecorino fiore sardo)

Marjoram

Squash

For the ricotta sauce:

Ricotta

Parsley

Eggs

For the béchamel sauce:

Butter

White flour

Whole Milk

Nutmeg

White pepper

Parmesan cheese

+

Lasagna pasta sheets

Mozzarella cheese

A reliable inspector (I had Jacob, brother of Robert the Serious Siamese).

How to do it

Bolo 1: Cut and fry the Italian sausage. Add cut onions and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar 

Once the onions are semi-translucent, add minced meat and fry

Bolo 2: Boil 2 garlic cloves and sliced aubergines in a little water mixed with olive oil. 

Drain water, add one cup of grated parmesan cheese and blend –put aside.

Return to bolo 1: Add thyme and thin slices of garlic. About 10 minutes later add 2-4 leaves of bay.

Cut carrots into small cubes

Add carrot cubes, tomato sauce, red wine and cut basil into Bolo1 –let boil.

Ricotta layer:

Break 3-4 eggs

Add ricotta cheese and chopped parsley

Mix and put aside.

Return to Bolo 1; remove bay leaves, and add grated pecorino. Then add Bolo 2 mixture and some (half a cup, 4-5 tablespoons) cut marjoram. Let simmer on low heat. Add 3-4 dl red wine (about 1 US cup).

Cube the squash, add to your Bolo 1+ 2 (now final).

Take a deep breath, and prepare the béchamel sauce:

Melt a chunk of butter (50-75 g).

Add 3-4 tablespoons of wheat flour.

Mix and keep on mixing. Once your butter-flour mix looks like cheap play-doh you can start adding milk; first a little, then slowly a bit more.  When you are minus five satisfied with the texture; add a cup of grated parmesan cheese, mix and set aside.

Now the three sauces look like this:

Start the assembly:

Spoon bolognese sauce to cover the bottom of an ovenproof dish, sprinkle a little mozzarella on top. Add lasagna sheets

top with a thin layer of béchamel sauce. Then add a layer of (green) lasagna sheets, then all of the ricotta mix.

Again a layer of lasagna, rest of the bolognese, some mozzarella and one more lasagna layer, then the rest of the béchamel sauce 

Finish off with a thick layer of mozzarella cheese

Bake one hour in 180-200 C ( 350-400 F) oven, 30 minutes under lid and 30 minutes without lid

 Ready to serve: